A deadly school strike in Gaza targeted a Hamas member, the BBC reported

Warning: This story contains details that may upset some people

An Israeli air strike that killed several children twelve days ago in a former school According to the BBC, it targeted a local Hamas member.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a Hamas “command and control center” had been built into the compound in Gaza City that it attacked in a “precise strike” on September 21.

According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, 22 people were killed, including 13 children and six women.

The Ministry of Health said that displaced people were accommodated in the school, which was closed during the war.

A young girl, Amal, told the BBC she was in the school building when it was hit and saw bodies being “torn apart.”

“What did we do as children? “We wake up and go to sleep scared,” she said.

“At least protect the schools; We don’t have schools or houses – where do we go?”

Sources told the BBC that one of those killed was a local Hamas operative, meaning many civilians died due to a single main target.

Huda Alhadad lost two children – son Muhammad, 13, and daughter Hanan, 12.

“I was coming from the hallway when the rocket hit. I came and found my husband screaming, saying: 'My children, my children, my children,'” she told the BBC.

“I asked him, 'Where are they?' I looked for them and found them under the rubble.”

In the 12 days following the airstrike, at least eight other deadly attacks on school buildings housing displaced families occurred in Gaza – the latest in a series of attacks on such buildings that provide little security.

According to Unicef, more than 50% of schools used as emergency shelters in Gaza were directly hit during the current war, with “devastating consequences for children and families.”

In each of the recent attacks, the IDF released public statements saying the former schools were home to Hamas terrorists or “command and control centers.”

In its public statement about the September 21 attack, the IDF mistakenly called the former school they attacked “Al-Zeitoun C” and instead named another nearby one, “Al-Falah.”

We confirmed that Al-Zeitoun C was the one hit by speaking to local residents and comparing videos of the attack's aftermath with satellite images.

The Hamas-run Gaza authorities also called it Al-Zeitoun C.

The relevant area is in the Al-Zeitoun district and includes four different schools: Al-Falah and Al-Zeitoun A, B and C.

When asked about the misnaming of the school, the IDF declined to comment.

It also declined to comment on who was targeted.

The Hamas-run government media office said the Israeli military committed a “terrible massacre” by bombing the Al-Zeitoun C school, which houses displaced people. It said that in addition to the deaths, the attack also caused serious injuries, including nine children whose limbs had to be amputated.

Dr. Amjad Eliwa, an emergency doctor who treated those injured in the strike, described over 30 injured people reaching his hospital and said they were “mostly children and women, with amputations and very serious injuries.”

He described one of the deceased as a woman who was six months pregnant.

This was confirmed by images of a fetus at the scene of the attack, and local residents said the dead woman was Barah Deraawi, who died along with two young daughters, Israa and Iman.

Additional reporting by Paul Brown